Ambush PV Miranda Everest Finished

@Miranda Everest

Even if Callie had very much been a part of the wizarding world for a fair while by now the term muggle still didn't sit right with her. The word itself felt odd on the tongue and Callie had yet to find a source of pride in her humble, muggle-born origins. Despite her own trials and tribulations with such matters Callie made no effort to hide her origins - even if it still weighed quite heavily on her mind. "I did grow up on a farm! My mum and dad are farmers, you see? It's a muggle farm...I didn't even know wizards had farms! I kinda just thought food was...conjured up or something.." Callie admitted with an awkward grin as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm still new to this whole thing..so forgive me if I sound a little...stupid! I'm trying my best to learn about everything but..there's so many differences!" She lamented from her spot on the grass. "I guess I kinda underestimated how different everything was when Nora told me about it.."

"A book is still a book!" Callie defended when Miranda seemed to shrug off it's destruction so casually. "Man, I bet the books in the library are super old....like Danny Devito.." She drifted off in thought for a moment before Miranda's talking brought her firmly back to reality. Similarly to Miranda, Callie often had trouble focusing for long periods of time and her tendency to find wonder in the simplest of circumstances didn't exactly help things. "Origami dragons sound much cuter than arson, don't ya' think?" Callie offered with a giggle as she watched the leaves tumble from Miranda's person. "I can make tiny lions too! They're not...brilliant yet but practice makes perfect!"

"No, what I meant by a wizarding farm is one that contains some of the more common magical beasts. My parents own one, actually. There's only a dozen or so creatures that actually stay there, but there are lots that come for a week or a day, or get dropped off temporarily while their owner's are on vacation." Miranda explained.

"And don't get me wrong, I love books, but there's no use lamenting something that's already happened. It's too late to change the past after all. Might as well get used to that fact." Miranda shrugged, although a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

She winced slightly at the mention of arson, but only someone who was really paying attention would notice it. "Really? Lions? That's actually pretty cool. Not as cool as dragons, of course, but getting there." Miranda's artistic talent was mostly limited to mediocre drawing, writing novels, and the occasional instrumental mishaps. Never before had it ever crossed her mind to try origami.

"So how do you make them?" she asked, looking at the dragon Callie had given her intently. She shifted it around and peered at all the folds, trying to get a sense of how it was made. Frankly, she didn't make much progress.

It's fine! We all have our RL problems.

@Miranda Everest

"...THOSE EXIST?" Callie exclaimed look on her face that betrayed shock, wonder and curiosity all at once. "That's....that's so cool! What kind of creatures stay there? I bet they're amazing! Man, that's so much more exciting than a regular farm!" The thought of a farm existing in such a manner was an exhilarating one for Callie who had only just starting reading about the different kinds of magical creatures. Even if she wouldn't have the chance at any classes around the subject for another year that didn't stop Callie's curiosity...or her reading for that matter.

Something about Miranda's attitude towards the ruined book was endearing to Callie as it closely resembled her own attitude towards life. There wasn't much point in overthinking the actions of the past and while it was important to be aware of the past , the future was much more important. The future could be shaped, it could be moulded. The past cannot...unless there was another kind of weird magic out there as to Callie the possibilities of magic seemed endless. "See! Another lover of dragons! Finally! I've been in far too many conversations where people preferred birds.." Callie laughed and picked up a sheet of paper to demonstrate her craft. "It's pretty easy actually! It just takes some practice..like..a lot..of practice." Callie folded together another dragon with relative ease even if she slowed down her process to help teach Miranda. "See! It's easy! You'll have a dragon army in no time!"

@Callie Jensen

"Well, some of our full-time residents include a few Granian Winged Horses, and an old house elf named Zeki that helps Mother and Father with the other animals." She smiled at that, remembering how the elf spent the majority of the days he had off searching for her and her brother in order to 'educate' them on various subjects. Although such a thing seemed almost normal to her, bordering on annoying, Miranda was also aware that such a thing would seem completely alien to other people, both muggles and wizards alike.

"What is not to love about dragons?" she continued in response to Callie's exclamation. "They breathe fire! And fly! Well, birds fly too, but not as well as dragons!"

Miranda stopped talking as she watched Callie fold a dragons, then repeat the action slower to help her understand. "A dragon army," she replied with another grin. "Just what I have always wanted. With them, I will conquer the world of origami creatures." Miranda had to bite back a laugh, even if her words were not all that funny. She had the bad habit of often finding her own jokes - no matter how lame - hilariously funny.

@Miranda Everest

"Really? Wow, I have so much reading to do! I don't know a whole lot about magical creatures yet." Callie's eyes betrayed a distinct curiosity as Miranda spoke of the farm residents as her own reading into magical creatures hadn't gone quite far yet. As the months went by Callie had started to realise that the realm of magic and wizardry was more complex than she had ever dreamed of. The possibilities were endless and the amount of catching up she had to do was gargantuan. However in spite of the endless wonder the wizarding world provided Callie couldn't help but prefer the comforts of home. There was something to love about sitting on the couch after a long day watching movies with your family and Callie? She missed it greatly. The general excitement of living on the farm was also something Callie found her heart pining for recently. She may have been wrapped up in the world of magic but Callie's love for the simpler things in life remained as strong as ever. "We've got normal animals on our farm! You know like cows, sheep, pigs, chickens..that sort of thing! Oh plus all the planting we have to do! It's a lot of work..but I already can't wait to get back home and help. It'll be strawberry season when I get back home! Nothing beats fresh strawberries...other than maybe chocolate frogs...or jellybeans."

Callie held the origami dragon triumphantly in her hands before she passed a sheet of paper to Miranda so she could make her own attempt. "There's so much stuff you can make! I'm trying to figure out how to make a bird right now..it's a tricky.." Callie giggled with amusement as Miranda spoke of her conquest as she had similar thoughts when she first started making the creatures. By now her small section of the dorm had a collection of around thirty origami creatures all stood in neat lines that resembled the ranks of a Roman legion. "Are you positive you're alright? You fell quite a long way.." Callie asked with a hint of concern across her face, still worried for the girl's welfare.

@Callie Jensen

"They are pretty cool," Miranda agreed. "Especially the Winged Horses. My brother absolutely loves them. It's actually quite ridiculous. They're his favourite magical creature, and he does everything he can to sneak into their pen and feed them treats. They probably like him way more than Mother and Father by now."

Miranda stayed silent for a while longer, but spoke up again when Callie described what her farm was like. "Believe it or not, I've never actually seen a cow up close. We don't have any of those back home, and my family doesn't go out much, so there's really no good way to catch a glimpse other than images in books." She paused. "And I agree. Almost nothing can beat a chocolate frog. If you can catch it, that is. I've lost way too many before because of them hoping off before I can eat them. It's really annoying." She smiled grimly, although still seemed amused.

Another pause followed that, then Callie handed her a sheet of paper, most likely so Miranda could try out her own origami. She did so with a will, although still listened as the other Ravenclaw talked about how she was trying to make birds now, along with her dragons and lions.

Miranda was halfway through her origami dragon when Callie abruptly changed the subject and asked if she was okay. "Um, what?" she replied, temporarily caught of guard, although she quickly recovered. "Oh, I'm really fine. Head's a bit sore, but that'll heal in no time flat." Miranda frowned at her dragon-in-progress, critically observing the bad folds, which were numerous. In fact, it looks more like a deformed chicken than a reptile of any kind.

"Some creatures seem so scary though...are they as bad as they sound? It’s weird because they sound so cool! Like something with a name as kooky as what some creatures are named as has to at least be a little bit cool." Callie certainly had a lot more reading to do than she ever realised. How on earth was she meant to catch up when so many different things existed? She could only read one thing at a time! Callie was half tempted to try and clone herself if it meant she could fill in the different gaps in her knowledge.

"You've never seen a cow up close? Really? Not even on TV? Man, that's so freaky! Oh, not that you're freaky! That's uh, not what I meant! Sorry...I'm still getting used to the fact some people haven't experienced everything I consider so...normal. Although I suppose the same is true for me! All of this magic stuff must be like second nature to you, right? It's still all so...weird for me!" Callie awkwardly rubbed the back of the neck and silently hoped Miranda wouldn't be offended by her distasteful choice of words. Not everyone took very well to being told they were freaky and Miranda seemed like a nice person! She didn't deserve that and Callie didn't entirely buy into the idea that all pure-bloods were nasty people.

"Gotcha! Sorry, I can't help but worry! I'm more than familiar with the art of falling out of trees...and the injuries that come with it.." Callie watched Miranda's hands carefully as she folded the dragon together, only to notice a slight frown slip onto Miranda's face. "You're doing great! Nobody gets it perfect first try! Mine looked like a mutant bird on my first couple of tries...not even a cool mutant! You know, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It was just a horrible mutant!"

“Okay, maybe they’re a bit cool. But still terrifying. Things can be cool and terrifying at the same time, right?” Miranda glances over at Callie as if for confirmation, then continued. “Honestly, I got used to most of the magical creatures a that stay year-round long ago. They’re not as interesting to me as, say, a Hippogriff or Occamie would be.”

Miranda has always wanted to see an Occamie. They’d never actually had one on the farm, since people tended to keep such creatures with them, mostly because they were easier to take on one’s travels than a Centaur or an Acromantula, which were both very large and very loud, permanently. They couldn’t change like the winged serpent could. Therefor, whenever their owner (or human companion, as the centaurs referred to them) traveled abroad, their creatures were forced to either stay behind, or stay somewhere nearby. That was where the Everest Family Farm came in.

When Callie voiced her surprise over Miranda not ever seeing a cow in person, she laughed. ”It is weird, isn’t it? Almost like you and I are reversed. You haven’t seen many - if any - magical creatures, and I’ve only seen a rare few of the muggle beasts.” She paused for a moment, thought something over, than continued. "And for me, yeah, I suppose magic comes as second nature. I'm still not quite familiar with a whole load of muggle things. Like motion pictures, for example." She remembered when one of her muggle-born friends had tried to teach her about that subject. It hadn't gone very well, even if she'd been eager to learn. Some of the things muggles did was just so weird.

"The...Teenage Mutant Ninja...Turtles?" Miranda echoed, a bemused expression on her face. "What in the world does that mean? Is it actually a thing? Or are you just joking?

"Hippogriff..Occamie...you ever wonder who named these things? They always sound so..exotic! And magical! And cool! Well they are magical, so I suppose they kind of need to be like that but still! It's super weird to think about." Callie clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap to prevent herself from fidgeting. The last thing she wanted Miranda to think she was far too restless and was much too unsatisfied with the conversation. In truth Callie was just a hopeless fidget and found it rather difficult to stay still, the primary reason she had taken to origami so quickly. It kept her hands busy in situations where she had to sit down for a while and made for a much more productive time filler than biting her nails would.

Callie couldn't help but let out the slightest sigh of relief when Miranda wasn't entirely offended when he she called her strange. Instead of finding offence she found laughter which Callie couldn't help but relish in. "Motion pictures..." Callie trailed off for a moment before it finally clicked in her head. "Oh, you mean movies?" Her eyes seemed to light up, a clear sign of how much of a movie lover the girl was. "I adore movies! You've seriously never seen any? Not even Shrek? Not even Wolverine? Not even..Avengers?" Callie barely managed to suppress a gasp. "Have you ever read comic books? They're super fun too! " To prove her point Callie dug through her bag and brought out a comic book with the mighty Captain America emblazoned on the front. Shortly after dramatically showcasing the cover she passed it over to Miranda in case she wanted to take a look. "You don't know the turtles either? No heroes in a half shell? Turtle power?" Callie placed a hand on Miranda's shoulder in a dramatic fashion, one fitting of the theatre. "I have much to teach you, my friend."

Miranda considered Callie's words. "You're right, they do sound kind of weird. Maybe it's because they were originally named in different languages, or something? And then it got lost or garbled during the translation process?" It was the only explanation Miranda could think of off of the top of her head, excluding various ones related to etymology. She supposed their professor's insistence on learning the origin behind every spell incantation was rubbing off on her.

"Movies?" Miranda echoed with a look of faint surprise. She seemed to find herself doing that quite often lately. "Is that like another word for motion pictures? Or are they just similar?" This whole conversation was thoroughly confusing her. She would probably do better studying obscure Transfiguration theories any day, rather than fight her way through this confusing mess. Miranda accepted the thin book Callie handed her without a fight, and studied the cover image with a skeptical expression. "Why is he wearing such a weird costume?" she asked, tilting the book so she could study it better.

Miranda glanced over at Callie again as she started talking about turtles. Still reeling from the host of bizarre revelations, she did nothing more than nod mutely in response to the girl's words. She was confused enough already - asking for answers would only end with her having twice as many questions than she'd started with.